Bryan Fischer set about getting the Bible all wrong again yesterday (I know, this is hardly news any more), but because his attitude drives opposition to combating global warming, it is important that we deal with this latest stupidity.
The good news is that even the Religious Right is becoming aware of rising sea levels. The bad news is, they continue to insist on interpreting this effect of rising global temperatures as either a sign of God’s displeasure (rather than a sign of the earth’s displeasure) or as nothing to be concerned about.
Bryan Fischer, the American Family Association’s Director of Issues Analysis who doesn’t understand the issues, fits into this latter category. We don’t have to worry about rising sea levels, he says, because “God says ‘look, I am not going to destroy the earth with the waters of a flood ever again'” (Genesis 9).
“Every time you see a rainbow in the sky, that’s what it’s all about.”
Watch the video courtesy of Right Wing Watch:
Of course, it’s not quite as simple as that.
Let me present to you Genesis 9:8-17:
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with them, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendents after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the dark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations. I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of the flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
From this rather long-winded passage we can establish several things:
- The covenant is not with men only but with all the living things in the ark, wild and domestic animals included;
- The covenant is also with the earth itself, not only with the living things living upon it;
- The covenant does not differentiate between types of living things. Therefore, some of those living things could be killed as long as not ALL life is killed;
- Humans are just some of those living things;
Oh dear. Where to begin?
Simply put, the rising sea levels ARE a concern: because of the wording of the covenant, rising sea levels could flood the coastal areas of the earth and kill millions, and the covenant won’t be broken. Millions more living creatures will continue to exist inland of the flooded areas. In fact, because God says he won’t “destroy all flesh” he could even kill off every living human and still not break the covenant.
After all, why should all the animals die because humans are stupid?
Bryan Fischer needs to read his Bible. Assuming he has read his Bible, he needs to stop lying about what it says. Pope Francis understands how important the “creation” is.
Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude.
Sadly, the Religious Right sees the rainbow not as a mark of the covenant but rather as a “GO” sign in the sky: other members of this “covenant” are fair game for the human element, and the earth itself, another member of the covenant, something simply to be exploited through mining and fracking and pollution.
In theological terms, rising sea levels are God’s STOP sign.
To be blunt, in Old Testament terms, the ones Bryan Fischer himself likes, Fischer, and those like him, are God’s enemies. They have put themselves against God and spit in his eye, and continue to spit in his eye, again and again through deceit and hypocrisy, violating his commandment not to lie and spread false witness, as they spread their heretical doctrine over the earth. If anyone should be vomited forth – and that’s what God does to the unfaithful – it is Bryan Fischer.
He is what we in Ásatrú circles would call a “nithing” – a “nothing” – the lowest form of insult available. A nithing is a scoundrel, a vile wretch. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (Shorter OED, 3rd ed, 1959) the meaning is “A vile coward; an abject wretch; a villain of the lowest type”. Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) offers this definition “A coward; a dastard; — a term of utmost opprobrium.”
Bad enough Fischer doesn’t like non-Christians. But it is clear he doesn’t even like what he claims are his own kind, because he cannot be bothered to be honest with them.
“Nnithinghood,” according to Wilhelm Grönbech, in his Culture of the Teutons, is “a total lack of human qualities.”
That about says it all.
- Resistance Leader Maxine Waters Receives Standing Ovation at MTV Movie Awards - Mon, May 8th, 2017
- A Desperate Trump Lashes Out As Sally Yates Prepares to Testify - Mon, May 8th, 2017
- Idaho Republican Claims ‘Nobody Dies Because They Don’t Have Access to Health Care’ - Mon, May 8th, 2017
